Impact on MySQL: IBM’s Acquisition of Sun

Rumors were swirling around Wall Street yesterday that IBM was in talks to buy Sun Microsystems, the owner of technologies such as Java, MySQL, and Solaris.  If this were to happen, it would certainly bring to light several interesting possibilities for Open Source Software – and especially MySQL.

IBM – although typically known for their hardware division – has some very capable software development teams in place.  Popular Open Source Software that is heavily updated and maintained by the company include:

• Apache – chances are, you’re using it for a web server
• Bugzilla – open source bug  tracking
• Eclipse – the popular open source Java IDE
• A full list of IBM’s 183 Open Source Initiatives

IBM also develops some closed source applications for the enterprise, primarily the Lotus package and DB2 – and it is DB2 where things could get interesting.

Just over a year ago, Sun Microsystems purchased the MySQL RDBMS that is so popular among web developers because of its relative speed and zero-cost.  Even then, speculation was abound: what exactly will happen to MySQL now that it is in corporate hands?

There is some speculation that while Sun may not have commercialized MySQL to the point that its free version went away, as many had feared, IBM might let it die a slow death while trying to convert developers to its own RDBMS, DB2.

This would be a terrible loss for the web community, as so many of today’s Web 2.0 services are MySQL driven.  Think about it: every LAMP server in existence uses some form of the MySQL suite, and just think of how many open source packages use MySQL as their database backend.  WordPress – the system I am typing this blog entry into – would have to convert a majority of its code to a utilize a different database.  Vbulletin, PHPbb, Drupal, and so many other platforms would be forced to change databases.  It would truly be a mess for the web industry,  not to mention MySQL is almost universally supported and is easy to use.

Now, what does IBM bring to the table that could benefit MySQL if it chose to continue investing in a platform that competes directly with their own for-profit platform?

• Research and Development money
• Experienced software developers from a variety of platforms
• An extensive enterprise community who might use MySQL as opposed to Microsoft SQL Server

In the end, IBM will have a choice to make.  Does it let one of the most used database programs on the Internet die or does it pour funding into enhancing its features and market share?